The CMOH challenge (clean my own house) So being a SHINKy till 40 afforded me many luxuries (impulse international travel, random money dumps on frivolous things, $200jeans, $2000 bags and $7 coffee. Many Of these luxuries I gave up (or scaled down) when moved on in life and became a Burbie. But one luxury has followed me my entire adult life and has actually transitioned from luxury to mandatory in my Burbie book - a home cleaner! As a kid, my West Indian mom was all about making me and sis clean the entire house when we were old enough, which lead to my sis and I hiding from her, slacking off and ignoring her demands.... which led to her Oscar winning dramatic performance of being fed up with her lazy ass kids. She'd fall down on the floor with heavy cries and the words went something like "LAWD LAWD!!! I can't do this by me-self LAWD!!! FADAHH GAWD PLEASE PRAY FOR DEEEZ LAZY CHIL'REN AHH MIIINNNEEE!! I PRAYYYi live to see tomorrow cuz ah gon' fall down DEAD wit' doom all dis housework by meh-self!!! FADAHH GAAAAWWD I PRAY!!! " it worked when we were little kids cuz we were just in shock by her dramatic fall (she's no small woman). But as we got older we would just sit and time what part of the drama was coming next and silently giggle together. Yes we're ungrateful kids I know....... and clearly my issues with housecleaning started young. Now I've changed cleaning ladies and services over the years but always made I sure kept at least one in my contact list that I could call anytime and within 48hours they come and make me feel whole again - bring me back to my center..... like I said MANDATORY!! I used to have a personal cleaner, then I switched to a service - there is a difference - here's the breakdown: Cleaning lady: PRO: spends 5-8 hours in your space climbing up ladders, going under beds dusting, washing, and vacuuming every crack and crevice until all your fluid bottles are empty and you have to wear a mask from the product fumes - when she leaves your house is sparkly shiny and giving you life! CON: they prefer that you leave your house while they clean so you have to find something to do for 8 hours and you have to build trust. They also get in your business sometimes and you just want to tell them off - but you can't! Well you shouldn't! Cleaning Service: PROs: they always have someone available and the owner is ready to haggle a price. The service I use is Russian and they show up in front of my house in a minivan with a Big Russian dude driving - he drops of someone and comes back 4 hours later to pick her up. You can stay home and tell her everything you need her to do step by step. If you don't like the person they assigned to you, just call and they'll give you a new person CONs: Anna is our assigned cleaner and she comes of that van every other Saturday at 6am waking us out of our sleep! There's no time choice. Also, most of them speak no English - or at least she acts like she doesn't..... so you have to call the owner and have them negotiate on anything they don't want to do. The great thing is that home cleaners are relatively inexpensive out in the Burbs. I pay the same for a 5ksqft house that I paid from my 1 bedroom NYC apartment so there has been no reason to give this up!!! Until now! New Home, New space to learn about and I want to get to know every corner before I pass the torch to Anna. So i assigned my self the CMOH challenge. For 1 month I decided to pull out my big yellow rubber gloves and CleanMyOwnHouse! Well that month went slow.... actually it took 2 and 1/2 weeks before I was calling for Anna again. Not because i didn't want to do it, I really just didn't have the time What I learned from the CMOH challenge: 1) household electrics have gotten much simpler! When I first brought up the Dyson vacuum from the basement, my lil Pops says to me "Mommy what are you doing with that?" Me: I'm about to vacuum the house. Pops: YOU???? Me: Yes! Pops: Why? Me: because the house needs cleaning. Pops: Where's the Peach lady that doesn't speak English? Did she die? My face was filled with shock and disbelief! What have I been teaching this kid???!!! It took me another 15 minutes to start because I had to have a sit down with Pops to explain to him that he said something inappropriate and also explain to him it was my fault. Once I turned on the vacuum, I found it quite easy to use. I was going around the baseboards, the curtains and under the beds like a champ. And when I put on my headset it was like I was in a zone (kinda like a workout but with less instruction and less sweating). It was cathartic! 2) It's ok to get help if you need to and can afford it. Clearly in my childhood home I was taught hard physical work was a badge of honor. In fact I've observed that most black people traditionally do not believe in having someone else clean their home, coming into their space. They think it's for rich people. I realize now that even though I CAN CleanMyOwnHouse, i don't NEED to. If it's a choice between spending that extra time doing constructive with Pops and Hubs. Now the CMOH challenge is done. I have redeemed myself with my childhood and I'm calling Anna tomorrow so I can get a manicure.
